How to examine an unknown Ruby object
When debugging your application, you will come across objects created by some gem or framework. You don't have the source code at hand, still need to inspect this object. Here are some tools to do so:
Relevant methods
@object.methods - Object.instance_methods returns a list of methods excluding methods inherited from Object. This makes the methods list drastically more relevant. You can also try subtracting other base classes like ActiveRecord::Base.methods etc.
Filtering method list
@object.methods.grep /keyword/ comes handy when you have an idea on how a method is called. It filters the list of method names with a regular expression.
Instance variables
@object.instance_variables returns all instance variables defined on the object. Access them with @object.instance_variable_get :@varname, modify with @object.instance_variable_set :@varname, value.
By refactoring problematic code and creating automated tests, makandra can vastly improve the maintainability of your Rails application.
